Weedflower: The revised version.

Sumiko is the odd puzzle piece in the box. The piece that is in the puzzle box but never seems to fit. Weedflower is set at the beginning of World War II, and in California, everything is as it could be, if that includes Sumiko never truly fitting in because she is Japanese. Nevertheless, she always has her family beside her and the flowers that her family raises along with her dream of opening a flower shop. Then the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor and Sumiko’s life changes as her and her family are sent to live in concentration camps. Sumiko doesn’t fit in with the kids in the camp either, but she learns how to make the most of what she has and finally fit in the puzzle.
Sumiko is the only Japanese-American in her class. She is never invited to parties and never invited to hang out at someone’s house. Then she gets an invitation to a popular girl’s birthday party. “Sumiko had read the inside about a dozen times.”(pg 2). She also runs around the house telling everyone that she was invited to a party. This shows how excited Sumiko is. I believe that this is the very first time that she has been invited to an event by one of her classmates. We all get energetic at the anticipation of a party; for example, waiting for my guests to arrive when I was little was the hardest thing to do. She thinks of every detail, including what to wear and what to give as a present, which is a very expensive scarf. This shows that Sumiko’s family is not invited to places often and that they want Sumiko to be happy. When she arrives, the girl’s mother meets her at the door. The mother tells her that the father has friends over that do not think highly of Japanese, and Sumiko cannot enter the house. Sumiko is crushed. It’s horrible that racism could prevent an innocent girl from going to a birthday party.
When the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor, even the American government starts discriminating against anyone Japanese-American. Sumiko’s family is split up and put into concentration camps. There, Sumiko is alone. The first few nights are tough for Sumiko. “…Sumiko realized that she didn’t know what to do with herself.”(pg 125). She could hang out with the kids at camp, but they are wild and prefer stealing from the canteen and causing trouble. Instead, Sumiko makes friends with Mr. Moko, and helps him raise a garden. I’ve never moved before, but Sumiko has been forced to move out of nowhere, and leaving everything that you love, like Sumiko’s knife for farm work, behind is hard enough already. I believe that Sumiko is actually a bit more mature and sane then the kids at the camp, which might be the reason that she isn’t great friends with the other kids at camp.
Sumiko starts out as the girl on a flower farm. She becomes whoever she wants to be, and even though her dreams of owning a flower shop and being separated from part of her family, she finds a way to deal with it all by creating a garden in the concentration camp. She realizes just how strong she really is and shows that not even being forced to leave your life behind can hurt her. Honestly, I’m jealous. I hope that I’m never in Sumiko’s situation, but I wish for her strength.